Many Shades of Gray (23 page)

“You are evil,” he said and averted his gaze though his arousal intensified. He didn’t try to hide the fact. Hell, he was naked and couldn’t hide it if he tried. He just continued bathing her as she laughed at him. When he went to her thighs her laughter slowed, then stopped.

Gotcha, he thought but didn’t say a word. He did drop the sponge and put more body wash in the palm of his hands. “The sponge is too rough for such a delicate area,” he said as he rubbed the liquid soap over the curls nestled between her thighs.

He dipped his hand in the water and put one finger into her and moved it around until he felt her muscles tightening. Then he slapped playfully at her.

“This is a bath, you hussy, not play time.” She was panting. She was so hot and so was he. And God, how he wanted her.

“Simon, stop teasing me,” she whispered. “You know you want to.”

“Of course I want to, but baby, this is war.”

“Couldn’t we call a truce?”

“I don’t think so.”

He inserted another finger, then rotated them and felt her shiver. But he wasn’t done with her. “Give me your foot,” he said, moving his hand from her treasure to massage her foot, kneading the heel and working his way around to rub her toes. She was teasing him by touching herself and moaning.

She was definitely playing to win but then so was he. He let her go abruptly, then headed for the shower, turned the water on full blast and jumped under the cold stream. He was so hot from wanting Janice he barely shivered. He should never have let them go so far in the first place. He could kick himself for going along with all of her silly rules for so long, but hell, he’d wanted her so damn badly that if she’d told him to cover himself with honey and dance down Broadway with a hive of hungry bees in pursuit he would probably have done it.

Simon heard the splash of water and paused. If Janice dared come into the shower the war would be over. He would win the skirmish. But there was no way he could withstand an assault of either her hand or her mouth at the moment. He leaned against the cold tiles made colder by the falling water and held his breath, waiting.

* * *

Janice thought about going into the shower after him. She thought about tasting him and could almost feel his heaviness in her mouth. She had the urge to taste him from head to toe, then start all over again. With a doubt he would yield to her hands, her mouth, and her teeth. But then what? They would make love and he would still think in his smugness that he’d won.

No, she had to remain focused and talk to him about making her decisions for her. Maybe with clothes on and a table filled with food before them, she’d at least have a chance to restate her position.

She wrapped a towel around her body and picked up the extension that connected her with the house staff.

“We’ll be down for breakfast in thirty minutes.”

Simon’s head popped out of the shower. “You ordered breakfast?”

“Yes.”

“Why downstairs? Why not up here?”

“Because we need to talk.”

“And we can only do that downstairs?”

“Downstairs lends itself to a more serious conversation.”

“Do you concede defeat?” Simon asked, staring intently at her.

“Are you kidding? I thought we could both use some replenishing.”

“Speak for yourself,” Simon said as his hand darted out and he grabbed for the end of her towel, spinning her toward him. She landed naked against his nakedness, warm dry flesh against wet cold flesh and the feeling was so erotic she trembled. Janice closed her eyes and nibbled at his lips, kissing him, enjoying having him home. Ten days was ten days too long. “I really did miss you.”

“I can tell. Maybe I should leave more often.”

“Not without telling me.” She bit down harder on his lip, then licked the area. “You only get one time to leave me, Simon, no more.”

“I’ll remember, but like I already told you, baby, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good,” she answered, moving away. “Let’s have breakfast; we really do need to talk.”

Janice marched out of the bathroom. Knowing Simon was watching the wiggle of her behind as she walked away, she added an extra jiggle and turned to catch him watching.

“Evil,” he grinned. “You are pure evil.”

* * *

Two cups of coffee and a sampling of everything on the table and Janice was ready to talk business. “We have a lot of things to discuss,” she began, “and not all of them pleasant.”

He smirked. “I can imagine what the unpleasant topic will entail. ‘Simon, you can’t run my life, you can’t tell me who to see, what to do, you can’t cancel my appointments, you can’t tell me I can’t see Tommy.” He laughed at the shocked look on her face. “Come on, baby, don’t you think I knew how you would react to what I did? Next subject.”

“Next subject? We haven’t discussed this one yet.”

“It’s finished. I don’t want you spending so much time with the man. Period, final, end of discussion.”

“End of discussion.” Janice laughed, and speared a strawberry and watched as the juices squirted out.

“Are you imagining that’s me and that it’s my blood spilling out?”

“How did you ever guess?” she asked.

“Because you have a vicious streak. When you’re crossed, you go for the jugular.”

“If you know that, why do you always tempt me?”

“I love the fire in your eyes when you’re angry and I like living dangerously.”

“I think your little stunt with Tommy was despicable. Do you have any idea what kind of explaining I will have to do when I see him?” Oops, I said the wrong thing. She watched as his gray eyes narrowed and turned icy.

“You need to explain my behavior to Mr. Strong?”

“Of course,” she answered. “That caveman routine was cute, but come on, do you really think I would go along with that nonsense if I didn’t want to?”

Simon studied her. She was baiting him. Round two, but he wasn’t going to give in easily. “What do you have planned now that you’re free?”

“You have plans?”

“We could go for a drive, pack a lunch, have a picnic somewhere, just the two of us and then,” he smiled even wider, “maybe make love under a tree.”

“Forget the tree. We can make love out in the open, on the grass.”

“If we get caught we’d get arrested for public lewdness.”

“Your lawyers would have us out in seconds.”

“Yes, but think of the publicity. Bad press can kill you.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Janice smiled. “About my book, thanks, Simon, but I really don’t want you doing things to make my book number one. I want to do that on my own.”

He looked thoughtfully at her. “Your writing’s very important to you, isn’t it?”

“Of course, you know that.”

Simon lifted the china cup to his lips and took a sip of the coffee. “Am I important to you, to your life? If I couldn’t help your career, would you care?”

“The only way you’d ever know the answer to your question would be for you to get out of the publishing business. Stop pushing my career, Simon. I love the things that you do for me but maybe you should stop.”

“I love making you happy.”

“But you have to ask yourself if the price is too high.”

“It wouldn’t be if you’d just tell me what I want to hear.”

“You already know the answer, Simon.”

“Would it really kill you to tell me?”

Janice smiled slightly, looking serious. “I’ve given you everything that I can. You know how I feel about you and to answer your earlier question, yes, Simon, you’re very important to me. I’m glad that you’re in my life but I can’t help wondering if my saying those three little words would be the end of us. You’re used to making people bend at your command. Maybe it’s the challenge, the fact that I won’t, that intrigues you.”

Simon blinked and stared at Janice. She really didn’t believe totally in his love and therefore was afraid to tell him that she loved him. He was beginning to understand.

“You think if you tell me that you love me I’m going to stop loving you? Love doesn’t stop that easily.”

She didn’t answer.

“Listen to me. Love doesn’t stop that easily, not real love.”

“What if I’m just another pretty thing for you?”

Simon pushed his chair back, sighing as he allowed his gaze to land on the woman he loved. He stood and walked toward her. “I love you with all my being, Janice. You have to trust me, trust me not to hurt you. Please don’t keep making me pay for things I didn’t do. I’ll never hurt you.”

“I want to trust you, Simon, I really do.” She rose to meet him. “And in most things I do. But look around you. How many people say that they love someone today and tomorrow they’re sleeping with someone else and saying they love them?”

“Do you think I slept with someone else while I was gone?”

“No, but—”

“No buts, not about that. I’ve told you that I believe in total fidelity. That’s supremely important to me. I’ve never cheated on you and I hope you’ve never cheated on me.” He raised a brow.

“I’ve never cheated on you, Simon,” Janice said softly, meeting his gaze, determined to keep the memory of the kiss she’d shared with Tommy from her eyes.

“Then why won’t you trust me and trust us?”

“Because you ask too much. You said you wanted my soul. What would that leave me with? I would be your puppet.”

“As I am yours.”

“But I don’t want to be a puppet. Total surrender to me is like…like…like…it’s like slavery!” she blurted out. “I can’t do it.”

“Is that really how you feel?” he asked, his voice heavy. He reached out to touch her cheek, running a long slender finger down the side of her face. She caught it, kissed it and gazed into his eyes.

“Yes, Simon, that’s how I feel.” She looked down, then back at him. “The thought of not having you in my life sends me into a panic. I want you to be in my life. I could live without you but I wouldn’t want to.”

He gave in, pulling her into his arms. “I know that little speech was supposed to make me feel better, but I could have done without you saying you could live without me. You are definitely rough on a man’s ego.”

“In that case I’ll have to soothe that bruised ego, won’t I?” She pressed her body against his, drawing him into a kiss. This she could do. She could show him with her body what she couldn’t tell him with words. “Give me just a couple of hours to get this scene down that’s been floating around in my head, and I’ll be more than ready to join you for that picnic under the tree.

“And the lovemaking under the trees?”

“Especially the lovemaking.” She grinned, kissed him and headed to her office to write.

* * *

“Leave me alone,” Tommy shouted at Neal for the fourth time. “God, I hate that man! Who does he think he is?”

“He thinks he’s the man she’s going to marry, Tommy. You have no right to hate him just as you had no right to tear up a check that he meant to help the cause.”

“This is not about money.”

“No, maybe not, but a million dollars would have gone a hell of a long way toward saving the bookstores.”

“He was trying to buy me,” Tommy yelled. “Don’t you understand that?”

“So what? For a million dollars he could have bought me. So what if he wanted to make sure you kept your hands off his woman? I don’t blame him. And I don’t blame him for finally telling your ass off. You’ve tied her up for three weeks and you’ve got the sister feeling so guilty that she’s listening to every word you say as though you’re the Messiah. I’m surprised that even she allowed you to take over her life like that.

“Damn, man, she’s a writer. When is she supposed to write? You’ve kept her so busy that I know she hasn’t had time to even write a thank you card. I know she couldn’t have been taking care of her man, not as tired as she was every day when she left here. That shit you pulled on her that day you got that little impromptu party started, man, that wasn’t cool. First you had her crying, and then you kissed her.”

Tommy looked up, stunned; Neal had never told him he’d seen that. “Were you spying on me?” Tommy asked, snarling.

“I wasn’t spying but the way you were yelling at her I was keeping an eye on things.”

“What, you thought I was going to hit her?”

“How would I know? You were angry. I’ve never seen or heard you like that and the look on her face, she was terrified of you.”

“You’re crazy, she’s never been afraid of me.”

“She was that day. It was in her eyes.”

“If she was afraid, why would she let me kiss her?”

“Who knows? Maybe she was too afraid not to.”

Tommy glared at the thought that Mary Jo could have been afraid of him. Why would she—A memory flickered of the one time he’d wanted to. He blinked rapidly and kept it at bay. “I wasn’t going to hit her. I’ve never hit her.”

“You shouldn’t have been yelling at her like that.”

“I agree,” Tommy said, this time sobered and ashamed of his past actions. “Still, why couldn’t she call herself?”